Words and pictures from the author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Old Home Place

"Come on over and take a look at what we've done inside," Mearl's son called to me as I stopped at the mailbox on my way to the grocery.

Mearl's been gone a good while now, but her family keep the yard and fields of the home place as meticulously as if she were sitting on the front porch watching or even swinging a weedeater herself.

Now they're tackling the interior with fresh paint everywhere and new flooring for the kitchen. It looks fresh and cheerful, but I can still see it as it was -- overflowing with family pictures . . . a collection of pig figurines . . . two recliners and a sofa . . . and Mearl.

"Well, what's a-gonna happen?" she'd marvel, if I hadn't been to see her recently, raising her hands as if I were a miraculous and unlooked for visitor.

What's a-gonna happen is what I wonder.

Mearl's family has put the home place on the market, but in the current economy a buyer may be slow in showing up.

It will be interesting to see who eventually moves in across the hard road from our farm. We hope they'll be right for the place.

Walking through the old barn, on my way back to my car, I thought about all the use the old place had seen -- the mules that had been stabled there below, the untold quantities of tobacco that had cured and had been graded and handed just above me -- and of the hours and days and years of work and life the old place has known.

The clay floor is beaten hard with many a step; the stall door's wooden bolt is smooth with the touch of many a calloused hand.

And bright spirits seem to dance around the old barn where once they labored.

My brother and I sold my grandparent's house down in Florida. It was my idea of the perfect house -- but I didn't want to leave the home place John and I had established up here. I think the same is true for Mearl's family -- each of the children have made their own home places.

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Coming Events

2015

September 15 (First meeting) 6-8:30 pm at the Riverlink offices in Asheville.

Forty Pages -- a class through the Great Smokies Writing Program on UNC-Asheville

This ten session workshop is for those writers with a novel in progress, almost completed, or completed but in need of a final polish. Each student will submit forty pages (half at the beginning of the course, the rest during the sixth week) of his work in progress for discussion and critique by the class and close editing with written comments by the instructor. We will focus on the effective use of key techniques such as creating an intriguing opening line and compelling chapters, creating a likable and/or engaging protagonist, weaving in back story in small, manageable doses, writing realistic dialogue, setting up a dilemma that begs to be resolved, making the most of each scene and, in general, producing a page-turner. We will attempt to weed out the mistakes that mark the amateur writer and turn each student into a discerning editor of his own work. The suggested text is the highly acclaimed Don't Sabotage Your Submission by career manuscript editor Chris Roerden (Bella Rosa books --ISBN 978-1-933523-31-6.) LINK TO COME.

2016

June 5 - 11

JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL - A Practical Guide to Writing Popular Fiction

I'll be leading a class for all levels in the nuts and bolts of writing fiction for publication. Details probably not on line yet but this will be like my 2015 class HERE.

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All images and content are subject to copyright and are the sole property of Vicki Lane Mysteries. If you would like to use something from my blog on your blog or website, please email me and ask first. I'll probably say yes.

Who Am I? What Am I Doing Here?

I'm the author of The Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries from Bantam Dell. The series includes SIGNS IN THE BLOOD (LA MONTAGNE DES SECRETS in France), ART'S BLOOD, (LE SECRET DES APPALACHES in France,) OLD WOUNDS,IN A DARK SEASON (Anthony Nominee, Best PBO), and UNDER THE SKIN. There's also THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS (a spinoff/standalone)chronicling the unexpected life story of Miss Birdie, one of Elizabeth's neighbors.
Currently I am at work on a historical novel, dealing with a massacre in my county during the Civil War.
I came to this weird business late (my first novel was published in 2005) and am still trying to figure it out.
As my novels are set in a place much like my real life home, I thought I'd use this blog to share pictures of our farm and county. I've been blogging for nearly seven years now, on an almost daily basis, and the topics have ranged from writing, chickens, food, books, quilts, flora and fauna of all sorts, to the occasional tiny rant. There's no plan, but there are lots of pictures.
There's more information about me and my books on my web site: http://vickilanemysteries.com/